Chemistry of success: careers with a chemical degree

A career in chemistry can look tough for recent graduates – and not just because of the scientific rigours of a potential life in the lab. An American Chemical Society (ACS) survey of 2013 graduates found that 14.9 per cent were unemployed jobseekers five months after graduation, up from 12.6 per cent in 2012. However, not all of chemistry's fields are barren – if you know where to look.

The production of synthetic drugs, the development of tests to understand what's in unregulated food supplements and the quest for better disease treatments mean that in three areas, at least, chemists are in demand for engaging and challenging jobs.

A resulting plummet in brand-name drug sales hit the for-profit companies that had held the patents hard, says Kara Allen, resulting in layoffs across "big pharma". Allen is the program chair for ACS's Business Development and Management division and is a recruiter with Aegis Sciences Corporation, a Nashville, Tennessee-based toxicology lab.

As employment prospects for the for-profit sector faltered, non-profits and start-ups rushed in to fill the void. Earlier this year, the National Institutes of Health announced a new partnership to develop treatments for Alzheimer's disease, type 2 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, matched with an investment of more than $250 million. The partnership involved 10 big pharma companies – but also several non-profits.

And as big pharma creates new drugs and begins to rebound, jobs that pay big bucks are returning to the field. But there's a trade-off. "Salaries for non profits do tend to be a bit lower, but can offer more stability," Allen says. She points to her own movement in 2004 from international healthcare giant GlaxoSmithKline to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, in Memphis, Tennessee, as proof of this. "Moving [here] let me see the research being done translate from bench to bedside," Allen says. "Nothing is more fulfilling than seeing that come full circle."

An entry-level job in this field generally only requires a Bachelor of Science (BS) degree, Allen says. New graduates are likely to be employed as research assistants or research technicians, but master- and PhD-level chemists are also hired in these areas. PhD candidates often start with postdoctoral research and move into a more senior research role. Scientists, as well as medical professionals, can also focus on related administrative roles, including data entry, survey interviews and as research associates. "Job seekers need to decide what their key motivators are," Allen says. "Is their focus on a high-paying salary, a stable career or a more personally fulfilling position?"

Get a feel for forensics

With the creation of new substances comes the need to test for and identify them, a field known as forensic toxicology. "Forensic toxicology is definitely a fast-growing field," says Allen. One of the biggest drivers of this growth is the increased use of pain medications in the United States. In 2011, nearly 17,000 people died of an overdose of prescription pain medications – about three-quarters of the total deaths from pharmaceuticals that year. Many forensic toxicologists are working to develop new methods for monitoring the use of painkillers, says Allen, to help prevent some of these deaths and allow for safer pain relief.

These methods can also help pain specialists detect the use of other drugs for non-medical purposes. This includes recreational drug replacements, like synthetic marijuana and "bath salts," sometimes called fake cocaine. "The need to detect new illegal synthetic drugs as they continue to hit the streets regularly and the need to be able to detect them at lower thresholds has become increasingly important," Allen says. The story is similar with synthetic hormones in food, along with dietary supplements, which are not regulated by the FDA and may contain harmful or banned substances – a particular worry for athletes and an increasingly important one for the general public too.

All of this points to new opportunities for job-seeking chemists. Aegis, where Allen works, has seen an increase in the number of employees working on these issues from 50 to more than 900 since 2008. Some jobs in this field involve performing the tests themselves, while others contribute to research and development of new methods.

And, while an undergraduate science degree is generally a must for lab accreditation, only an associate's degree is necessary for jobs involving processing samples. With a bachelor's or master's degree, jobs at the lab bench preparing samples become available, and higher-level research positions are available to those with a master's or PhD.

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